NON DETECTABLE

I got an early...good news...phone call today from my surgeons office. I had gotten a blood test drawn earlier this week with the results to be sent to my doctor. Cindy & I are to go see him in about 10 days to discuss the results. Rather than making us 'wait and wonder'...he called to say the results were 'non detectable'. We still go see him on our appointment date, but we at least have some good news going in.

A mans prostate secretes a protein called 'prostate-specific antigen', or 'PSA' for short. This protein is detected in our blood so when a man has a blood test, the PSA can be checked to see if it is at a normal level. Sometimes (not always) when the level is too high...it can be because there is a cancer in the prostate causing the PSA to be elevated.

This...was the case for me. My surgeon removed my prostate...and hopefully the cancer...last September.

When a man has no prostate...the PSA should no longer be made...so when the blood test is done...there should be 'no detectable' PSA in that blood sample.

When a man has no prostate...and PSA 'is' detected in the blood sample...it likely means that the cancer in the prostate spread elsewhere in the body before the prostate was removed...and it is now secreting PSA again. 'THAT'...is a bad thing.

My result of 'non detectable' indicates that my cancer didn't spread...either at all...or at worst...it is growing so slowly that it is still undetectable.

For that reason, I will continue with blood tests at periodic intervals for the next 5 years. If...after that 5th year...I still have results that say 'non detectable'...history tells my doctor that the cancer was removed in its entirety. Then...they can confidently state that I am...cancer free.

There's still a long road ahead...but the first step sure feels good.


Dan